The Coming Race · Chapter
Chapter XI explained
The narrator grapples with the scientific paradox of habitable subterranean realms defying known geothermal laws.
What happens
The narrator grapples with the scientific paradox of habitable subterranean realms defying known geothermal laws. Zee offers conjectures about the porousness of the earth, the role of vril in regulating temperature, and the life-giving medium 'Lai.' She also explains how the Vril-ya have cultivated vegetation and improved climate through vril light. The chapter then transitions to a discussion of the Vril-ya language.
Themes in this chapter
Technology and Power
The Vril-ya's ability to manipulate climate and temperature through vril demonstrates their technological mastery over nature.
The Limits of Human Happiness
The narrator's struggle to reconcile scientific dogma with observed reality highlights the limits of human knowledge and happiness in the face of the unknown.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Perplexed by the contradiction between geological science and the habitable subterranean world; seeks explanations from Zee.
- Zee
Offers scientific and philosophical conjectures about the interior earth's temperature, the medium 'Lai,' and the role of vril in shaping the environment.
Key passages
“Nothing had more perplexed me in seeking to reconcile my sense to the existence of regions extending below the surface of the earth, and habitable by beings, if dissimilar from, still, in all material points of organism, akin to those in the upper world, than the contradiction thus presented to the doctrine in which, I believe, most geologists and philosophers concur— viz. , that though with us the sun is the great source of heat, yet the deeper we go beneath the crust of the earth, the greater is the increasing heat, being, it is said, found in the ratio of a degree for every foot, commencing from fifty feet below the surface.”
The narrator finds it deeply puzzling that habitable subterranean regions exist, contradicting the accepted geological principle that temperature increases by one degree per foot below fifty feet.
Highlights the central scientific paradox of the chapter.
“She did but conjecture that sufficient allowance had not been made by our philosophers for the extreme porousness of the interior earth—the vastness of its cavities and irregularities, which served to create free currents of air and frequent winds—and for the various modes in which heat is evaporated and thrown off.”
Zee suggests that surface scientists underestimate the porousness and air circulation within the earth, which helps dissipate heat.
Zee's alternative explanation for the moderate subterranean temperature.
“Wherever the All-Good builds, said she, there, be sure, He places inhabitants. He loves not empty dwellings.”
Zee asserts that a benevolent creator populates every habitable place, implying life exists even in extreme depths.
Reflects the Vril-ya's theological view of a purposeful universe.